My View: They All Sang At The N.Y. Pops Concert And Then They Danced At The Gala

Opera Stars Paulo Szot & Isabel Leonard wowed the Carnegie Hall audience with their voices but then gave an encore performance of ballroom dancing at the Gala Party after the concert.Jason Robert Brown who was pretty serious at the piano with The Pops Orchestra and The Bridges of Madison County Suite was a bit more joyful as he danced with wife Georgia Stitt to the music of Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks.

It wasn’t “how do you get to Carnegie Hall”? It was how do you get to the Gala Dinner/Dance at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which was afterTheNew York Pops 34th Birthday Concert.Music director and conductor Steven Reineke assembled more Broadway, Opera, and Music stars that hardly could fit on the stage of the Stern Auditorium. Kelli O’Hara the Gala’s music Honoree also performedin the spectacular concert and Karen Van Bergen the corporate honoree and Bartlett Sher, music honoree managed to join in as the complete cast and orchestra concluded with “Nice Work If You Can Get It” It was just a few blocks to the Mandarin Oriental and the Black Tie audience, performers arrived to the music of the Vince Giordano Nighthawks Orchestra.

Stephen studied at the Manhattan School of Music. Besides being a pianist, Stephen’s business career was in the Fashion Industry. He was CEO of a textile manufacturing facility and President of an international textile machinery company. Stephen was on the Board of Directors of the “First All Children’s Theatre” which brought the Stephen Schwartz musical The Trip and Captain Louie to the Kennedy Center in Wash DC. His wife Eda, an interior space designer and classical pianist was on the Board of Barrington Stage Company and is still active at BSC. Stephen’s photographs, videos and articles appear on Broadwayworld.com, T2Conline.com and The New York Observer. He is active in the entertainment events at the Friars Club, where he is a member. Stephen is thrilled to be the cabaret/ music and co-theatre editor. email: stephen@t2conline.com

T2C is the go to place for the best-kept secrets and latest up-dates for the tourist but for Hell’s Kitchen, Clinton and Times Square this is their neighborhood. Times Square may be the tourist hotspot of North America, but New York residents are the community members who live and breathe city life and make dedicated readers.